PRWeek TV: Government praised on welfare reforms comms

The Government set the ball rolling on the overhaul of the welfare system this week, implementing cuts across the benefits system and capping the rise in benefits by 1%. The changes were implemented on Monday (1 April), the same day that reforms to legal aid and the NHS were put in place.

But despite some negative news coverage of the reforms, piqued by the Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith claiming he could live on the bare minimum benefit allowance of £53 per week, industry experts believe the messaging has been communicated clearly.

Kevin Craig, managing director of PLMR, said: ‘The measure that I would adopt is whether the Government has succeeded in getting people to accept that welfare reform, or benefit changes, is necessary. Any opinion poll that you look at, at the moment, clearly says that people are on board with welfare reform and changes to the system.’

Estelle McCartney, a director at Champollion, said: ‘There is a potential challenge for the Conservative party that this can retoxify the brand, so if George Osborne and David Cameron can convince the floating voter that this is a genuine overhaul against a broader narrative of leading the country to recovery, then they will succeed.’